Try scorer: Thomas Combezou
Montpellier have progressed to the Heineken Cup quarter-finals after beating Pool winners Toulon 23-3 at Stade Yves du Manoir on Saturday.
The home side paid tribute to their late forwards coach Eric Bechu with an outstanding showing in poor conditions, with the busy Benoit Paillaugue's 15 points helping them qualify for the last-eight of the competition for the first time in their history.
Toulon came off second best to the power of the Montpol forward pack, which dominated the Top 14 league leaders until the likes of Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe and Joe van Niekerk came on.
Montpellier headed into the game needing two points to make sure of qualification, but they fell behind in the fifth minute, as Jonny Wilkinson converted a penalty for the visitors after the hosts infringed at the scrum.
But Toulon's lead didn't last long, and, when Santiago Fernandez's grubber won possession for his side, a powerful maul created the opening for Thomas Combezou to score. Benoit Paillaugue added the extras and then booted over a hat-trick of quickfire penalties to stretch Montpellier's advantage to 13 points.
The hosts were unable to add to their lead before half-time, but they held their opponents at bay with reasonable ease, and their cause was helped when Toulon's Delon Armitage was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on 34 minutes.
The second half opened with Montpellier enjoying the lion's share of possession and territory, and they got their rewards just seven minutes in when Paillaugue pounced on a loose Toulon pass to crash over for what would prove to be the game-clinching try.
That put the hosts a full 20 points in front and, though Toulon searched for a route back into the contest, the few times they reached home territory they came away empty-handed.
Chances in the final 30 minutes came and went for Montpellier, but, as the match edged past the hour mark, the hosts knew they'd done enough to keep their interests in the tournament alive. Toulon win the Pool despite the result, with Montpellier taking that all-important second spot.
The scorers:
For Montpellier:
Tries: Combezou, Paillaugue
Con: Paillaugue 2
Pen: Paillaugue 3
For Toulon:
Pen: Wilkinson
Yellow card: Delon Armitage (33 minutes)
Montpellier: 15 Pierre Bérard, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Thomas Combezou, 12 Santiago Fernandez, 11 Yoan Audrin, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Benoit Paillaugue, 8 Alex Tulou, 7 Johnnie Beattie, 6 Alexandre Bias, 5 Mamuka Gorgodze, 4 Mickael Demarco, 3 Maximiliano Bustos, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili.
Replacements:16 Rassie van Vuuren, 17 Yvan Watremez, 18 Barry Fa'amausili, 19 Aliki Fakate, 20 Thibaut Privat, 21 Kelian Galletier, 22 Eric Escande, 23 Lucas Amorosino.
Toulon: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Rudi Wulf, 13 Maxime Mermoz, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Jonny Wilkinson (capt), 9 Frédéric Michalak, 8 Chris Masoe, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Pierrick Gunther, 5 Jocelino Suta, 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Davit Kubriashvili, 2 Mickaël Ivaldi, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements: 16 Jean-Charles Orioli, 17 Gethin Jenkins, 18 Carl Hayman, 19 Nick Kennedy, 20 Mathieu Bastareaud, 21 Juan-Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 22 Vincent Martin, 23 Joe van Niekerk.
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Stuart Gaffikin (Ireland), Kevin Beggs (Ireland)
Television match official: Marshall Kilgore (Ireland)
Comments
new_j4a says...
@Rosbif, yes, I slipped back for data and found this GREAT well matched slanging match (why well matched you say? Well if you add the goy and the egg's IQs together they would closely approximate their opponent, that great doyenne of European rugby, Toulousain). She has them on the ropes, winning by a country mile on points and both of the poor Leinstermen out of gas and resorting to conspiracy theory and personal attack. I expect to see real bitterness from Dublin when Munster dominates them for the next 5 years and their stars start to drift off to greener fields....Kearney is next!
Posted 16:57 26th January 2013
Rosbif says...
@PR Ed. I was just popping back to this page to see who played instead of Ouedraogo, and I coudn't resist taking a peek at the posts.
Don't you just love it when these threads end in 2 committed bloggers going hard at it?
The ball is long gone, the ref and TV cameras are following play, but meanwhile, next to the touchline, right in front of the jeering crowd, two old 2nd rows are having a tete-a-tete. "Oy, Big Nose" "Who are you calling Big Nose, your nose'll be 3 foot wide across your face by the time we've finished..."
Classic!
Posted 20:49 24th January 2013
Toulousain says...
1. you are not, apparently, one of the best 8 teams in europe. living in the past is delusional (cf allan kardec)
2. ask remy martin about how that last pen was awarded. or ask sob how it feels to be carried backwards 20 yards by gorgodze.
3. you display nothing but ungraciousness, in almost all of your posts. (although i recognise you are statistically irrelevant given n=1).
4. yes, i believe leinster's past success was indeed in large part down to "playing the system" which was unfairly stacked in their favour. now that is being redressed, they are not particularly better than, say, 8 other teams. deep down you know it too. that's why you kick and scream so much about not wanting to change the hcup qualification system. there are similarities to lance armstrong. winning by abusing a system. then shouting loudest and moralising about other apparent abusers. like you rail against toulon for not beating montpol. it's risible.
5. you seem incapable of just responding to comments on these pages. you always need to "play the man, not the ball". why is my identity so fascinating to you? have i once enquired about yours? no. because it simply doesn't matter. (and because we can all learn about the sort of mentality you have by simply looking at your posts and deducing your cognitive qualities and prejudices - when you get to be 60 years old like me, you'll understand what I mean....)
you seem a bright, if argumentative person. how many non-academics would refer you to ockham's razor? or nietzsche's wille zur macht? or kardec? do you have any idea of how an academic spends his/her time? do you have any idea how much of our work is done on the computer? why do you continue to cling to the belief in some elaborate hoax? am i, in fact, richard anderson? or paid by PR to create hits on their site? where does it end??
bonne nuit mon cher leinster :-)
Posted 20:58 21st January 2013
leinster_goy says...
MIAOW...this pussy can stratch. let's just take 3 samples from your diatribe below:
1. "delusions of grandeur". delusions? three european cups in four years doesn't really sound like "delusions of grandeur" to me. that is grandeur, surely?
2. "how montpellier utterly outplayed you in your flukey draw last season?" really? my recollection of that game is that montpellier had the upper hand for 50 mins, then the last 30 mins were completely dominated by us; we led a magnificent stirring fightback and earned a fully deserved draw. my abiding memory of the game was Sexto smoothly stroking a difficult penalty between the sticks, despite 15,000 montpelliérains booing, hissing and jeering in the background
3. "how many times in the last 5 years have leinster had all the luck, taken every political advantage available to them, played the most cynically, and been the least gracious winners?" i'll answer that question for you: never. hope that helps you
maybe we should add to the list your recent claim that Leinster's success could be explained in the same way as lance armstrong's cycling success. so enough of your guff. stop trolling and then protesting indignantly that you're just expressing an opinion (a very similar tactic to one or two other trolls on this site so, as you can imagine, my suspicions remain). nobody's buying it
ultimately, there are two possibilities: (1) either you are who you say you are, and you are actually a middle-aged female french mother and university professor posting troll comments on a rugby forum - if true, I find it quite unsettling and disturbing, both for the students you teach and your children. or (2) you're just a dedicated troll who has fabricated an elaborate hoax to try and provoke posters on this forum with trite, inflammatory comments. either way, you're a very sad person and i pity you. adieu
Posted 18:50 21st January 2013
curates_egg says...
ROFL. Toulousain - of all fans to talk about delusions of grandeur, Toulouse's base is in somewhat of a glasshouse. Looking beyond your evident chip on your shoulder, I still think Toulouse is a great side though. I've plenty of mates who are Toulousains, so very much looking forward to the prospect of a Toulouse-Leinster Amlin final in the RDS. It would add real value to the Amlin, and the two sides are certainly better than some of the sides in the Heineken Cup quarters for sure.
Having been at the match, I have certainly not forgotten Montpellier's performance last year...which is why - as I stated in my post - I am happy for them that they are through to the knock-out stages. Nice to have a real rugby club in there (unlike Toulon's soccer team). I have nothing but respect for Montpellier and the performance they delivered on Saturday (without Oeudrago to boot).
My gripe is only with the pathetic/lacklustre/unfathomable Toulon gong show. Shame on them.
Posted 14:32 21st January 2013
Toulousain says...
I'm afraid I'm beginning to lose patience with you leinster_goy. It's fun to have a sparring partner on these pages from time to time. But it rather depends on the quality of analysis and sticking to some basic ground rules.....
Look at the string below. Look at curates_egg post. Ask yourself who is making the first provocative (and frankly ridiculous) comment? (N.B. Wilkinson is going under the knife this week to clear up the injury that has been plaguing him and his goal kicking this past fortnight - simple explanation really, but not nearly so exciting as a conspiracy theory).
Then ask yourself what is "wrong" about me replying to such a ridiculous comment? I assume in your slightly deranged world Greyprop is really just another one of my screen names, right? And, in any event, who made you the policeman of this site?
Sorry. I thought you were better than that. And that we might have some fun exchanging points of view. But it turns out you may just be the tiresome person that many others on this site already believe you to be.
As I say to my PHD students, my door is always open and I'm happy to be proven wrong in the future of course. But you've got some ground to make up now....
PS. Hope my English is not too bad that you can't understand me, and not too good that you don't believe me.
PPS. See you in the Amlin final perhaps...
Posted 13:17 21st January 2013
TVaddict says...
@leinster_goy
Some's sex, age or job is irrelevant on here. It was a appropriate reply to someone who is ridiculous enough to state that Leinster have been knocked out due to match fixing. That kind of paranoid talk requires a trip to the doctors.
Posted 12:41 21st January 2013
leinster_goy says...
@Toulousain
"time to concentrate on that important, high profile and competitive domestic league you keep telling us about....."
a bit like toulouse, eh?
like i've said before, it's quite bizarre for a middle-aged french female university professor to be coming out with such vindictive, trolling comments on a rugby website. sure you don't want to reveal your true identity?
@curates_egg
agree 100%. comment dire "stitch-up" en francais...
Posted 09:03 21st January 2013
Greyprop says...
curates_egg, did you write that piece of drivel from the top of the "grassy knoll" by the light of the little green disc hovering above your head. If you ever played against a team that were more driven, more intense and more committed than yours then you would understand why Toulon appeared so bad. Put simply Montpellier never allowed Toulon to settle into their game, they never got going. For you to imply that JW threw the game is contemptible. Like him or loathe him the fella is the ultimate professional and while you may think it, he is above it.
Posted 16:13 20th January 2013
Toulousain says...
dear oh dear. with all respect to leinster, who are not in control of their fans' delusions of grandeur, curates_egg your comment is itself a disgrace. so the hcup is rigged? please. and have you so quickly forgotten how montpellier utterly outplayed you in your flukey draw last season? how many times in the last 5 years have leinster had all the luck, taken every political advantage available to them, played the most cynically, and been the least gracious winners?
time to concentrate on that important, high profile and competitive domestic league you keep telling us about.....
Posted 14:28 20th January 2013
lacroix says...
well said Greyprop...'jonny wilkinsons toulon' is a ridiculous statement.
and kiwirooster entirely agree on Paillaugue- had fantastic game
Posted 13:51 20th January 2013
curates_egg says...
With all respect to Montpellier, who played with intensity and purpose, Toulon's performance was a disgrace. They made no effort and some of the calls and 'mistakes' really made this match stink of being a stitch up to get two French sides into the next round (with Toulon having already secured the home quarter final).
Nothing that you can prove but Jonny Wilkinson - whether tapping the ball over his own tryline for Paillaugue to score or opting to kick a penalty when 20 points down with 10 mins to go (and then missing from in front of the posts) or repeatedly missing penalties to touch or going for a 60 metre dropgoal with 5 mins on the clock (and missing) - was at the centre of the stench of stitch-up from this match.
It is nice to see a new team in the quarters and Montpellier is a good club...but this was a most unsporting spectacle. With all the bluster from the French and English clubs trying to make the H-Cup an Anglo-French cup, it is just a bit rich. The ERC should learn from this and ensure that these type of last round stitch-ups from France (not the first time either) do not take place.
Posted 10:41 20th January 2013
sharkie says...
indeed great game to watch , MP wanted it more than toulon.JW might have had an off-day yesterday but he still has more wits of the game and a more complete skill set than all the 6N number tens combined.
Posted 05:20 20th January 2013
KiwiRooster says...
Benoit Paillaugue had an amazing game. Between Machenaud, and Parra, he could well find his way to the French team if he keeps playing this way. Parra is having a very good spell for Clermont, but Machenaud remains my number 1 choice for France, he brings a lot more speed to the game very much like Paillaugue.
Posted 22:26 19th January 2013
Greyprop says...
Great game, thoroughly enjoyable rugby. The intensity from Montpellier was immense. There were some reputations enhanced, and a few big ones wrecked today. Paillaugue was a joy to watch. On the other hand we should now have heard the end of "Jonny" and the B & I Lions in the same sentence.
On a side note to Sky presenters and commentators its not, "Jonny Wilkinson's Tulon", damned arrogance, and an insult to some great players on that team. JW is a modest guy and I'm quite sure he would abhor this reference.
Posted 21:01 19th January 2013